Mystery Prompt 1: Remember Why You Love Her
by Aca-MysteryPrompt
Summary: Anon prompt requested from Cyanide Ocean who said, "Something with angst, but a fluffy ending and either Mitchsen or Chaubrey."


A/N: Prompt from Cyanide Ocean. "Something with angst, but a fluffy ending and either Mitchsen or Chaubrey."

Round and round we go whose inbox the mystery prompt anon pops in next nobody knows.

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"What the fuck, Aubrey?" Chloe stormed into the house with an angry Aubrey hot on her heels. She slammed her purse down on her favorite arm chair, the one with the pink and purple upholstery that Aubrey hated because it doesn't match the other brown leather furniture.

Aubrey neatly set her purse in its designated place on the sideboard and followed Chloe into the bedroom. "I was simply asking that you not flirt with every man in sight," she said, her words bouncing out of her mouth in a choppy beat. She planted her hands firmly on her hips and stared Chloe down as she took her jacket off and threw it on the bed, where it was definitely did not go. "Could you at least hang that up.?"

"Shut up." She was in no mood to care about Aubrey's OCD tendencies. In fact, she took off her left heel and threw it into the bottom of the closet. It was quickly followed by its mate. The look on Aubrey's face made her smirk, the red flush that had overtaken her pale skin meant that Chloe was hitting all the right buttons. Sometimes you just had to give Aubrey as good as she gave.

Aubrey promised herself that she wasn't going to yell. It was something she had been working on for a year's worth of visits to a psychologist but all the therapy in the world wasn't enough to stem the vexation that Chloe could cause her. It came from the same source as her passion, which had led to some rather interesting bouts of angry sex in the past. This wasn't going to be one of those days because the way Chloe had been laying it on during dinner, flirting with her client's son was inexcusable. It chipped away at the wall holding back the slithering insecurity that still plagued her.

Confidence had never really been a problem when it came to academics, a capella, and her career but if you looked at the close up of Aubrey Posen, the cracks began to appear. Her personal life and relationships were the area where she was a little behind the curve. Before Chloe, she hadn't dated much, she had never let anyone close was when your weaknesses could be identified and exploited for the pleasure of whatever sadistic asshole she happened to let in her life.

Chloe made her feel safe and loved. They had history and a solid base, something that was essential for her. Chloe had a way of just sneaking past people's defenses and making them love her before they knew what was happening but because Aubrey was a bit dense and in denial when it came to matters concerning her heart she held the idea of a relationship between them at arms length for years.

"You were practically sitting on his lap," she spat, exaggerating at this point was a forgone conclusion. The way Chloe had laughed at every bad joke that he had told and touched his arm when he complimented her dress. She had sat there unable to do anything but glare at both of them, her focus taken away from the original purpose of the dinner. She was good at inspiring confidence in her abilities, displaying her knowledge of law was simple. It was her lack of schmoozing talent that she bemoaned. This was where having a girlfriend like Chloe came in handy. Where Aubrey was straightforward and stated facts, Chloe complemented and made whoever she was convincing believe that it was their idea in the first place to do whatever she was suggesting. It just usually didn't go this far.

The desperate anger that Aubrey was throwing at her was taxing. She was used to carefully traversing these kinds of situations but she was a little tired of paying for perceived slights. "I was not," she said, "I can't even talk to you right now." She had changed into a t-shirt and shorts and she pushed her way past Aubrey and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Aubrey pounded a fist against the door frame and then sat on the edge of her bed. The anger was spent, and was quickly being replaced by exhausted grief. Fighting with Chloe was always like this, rare but a complete blow out when it happened. She knew better than to approach the door right now. They would both say things that they didn't mean.

She changed and then made her way to the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea and dragging her box of chocolate chip cookies from it's hiding place. Indulging in sweets was one of the symptoms of a bad night and the only way to recover was to do an extra hour at the gym tomorrow to make up for it. Her life sometimes seemed like an endless stream of exchanges between negative experiences and the compensation for them. It didn't make sense that she had let them get this into this rut. Maybe if she had payed more attention and nurtured their relationship, Chloe wouldn't have to be looking to other people for affection.

Chloe sat on the toilet, tears streaming down her face. Five years of happiness with Aubrey hadn't prepared her for the despair of feeling neglected. Had she known that by choosing Aubrey over Beca all those years ago that this is where she would be... No, she knew she would have still done it all the same. Her short lived relationship with Beca had been a beautiful, fiery six months of pure passion but it had fizzled and Beca wasn't equipped to give her what she needed. Aubrey's strength is what got her through that break up and when her best friend's confession of love came on one of those sleepless, miserable nights in which she invaded Aubrey's bed, she had rejoiced. Finally, someone really saw her and loved her for every quirk and flaw.

Now, it had become strained. Between Aubrey's immersion in her work and Chloe's absence, it was hard to connect anymore. She had been out of town a lot, getting more acting jobs as she built a good reputation in the industry. They had hardly seen each other in the last month and it wasn't really either of their faults. Tonight was supposed to be about getting back to the things that made their love strong but Aubrey had been so preoccupied by business talk that she had gotten a little upset and might have flirted, just a little bit with Jeremy or John. The name didn't matter, what did was that little spark of jealousy that she had seen in Aubrey's eyes. It meant that she still wanted her.

Guilt permeated her mind. She wasn't a fan of playing games, having been a victim of them in the past, but sometimes she feared that she loved Aubrey past the point of logic and that could be dangerous when Aubrey relied on logic to explain the behavior of others. Her feet softly slapped against the cold tile floor as she got up and cleaned up her face. They needed to have a real talk about what was going on and how to get back to where they had been before. She threw the tissue away in disgust. Maybe a shower would give her time to gather her thoughts and gain some perspective. Having a discussion like this with Aubrey always required forethought, not her strong suit really. Preparing arguments was the territory of her partner.

xx

The idea, once occurring to her, took on a life of it's own as Aubrey swooped around the apartment trying to think of a way to pull this off. Her fingers tapped on the desk as she waited for the printer to finish. Chloe loved romantic gestures and she hadn't done anything spontaneous for her in quite some time. She tiptoed into the bedroom, praying that Chloe would stay in the bathroom. She sighed in relief when she heard the spray of the shower start. That meant that she had even more time than she hoped for. Chloe always took amazingly long showers, part of the reason they had invested in a very large hot water tank. She rushed into the living room and grabbed her purse, locking the door on her way out.

Thirty minutes later she was back, having made a few calls to work and one to Chloe's agent. Everything was in order and even though she would have wanted another month to plan this out properly she kind of liked that it was on the fly. It suited Chloe and that was what she was aiming for. She grabbed the bed tray from the closet and started to situate the food she had brought back with her. Once she was sure that it was all there and arranged perfectly she brought it into the bedroom.

She stopped cold when she heard the water shut off and the shower curtain being pulled back. She had scant minutes before Chloe would emerge, tantalizingly warm and wet. The thought of Chloe wearing nothing but a towel, her wet hair smelling of juniper and rosemary from her shampoo, made her heart throb. She put the tray on the bed and rearranged the pillows so they were perfect. She had just moved the corner of the blanket a centimeter to the left when the bathroom door opened and she quickly let go of the fabric.

"Aubrey?" Chloe's confused gaze alit on her girlfriend and then fell to the tray full of food. The smell of tomato sauce floated to her and she felt a slow smile creep onto her face. The contrite look on Aubrey's face made her bit her lip and chuckle. These were the kinds of things they had forgotten to do for one another. She made her way over and pulled Aubrey into a tight embrace and pressed their lips together.

The kiss was the simple brush of lips well acquainted with one another but she felt the twinge

of lust uncoil in her stomach and she heard Aubrey moan when she deepened the kiss, her tongue demanding entry. She luxuriated in the feeling, their fight forgotten.

Aubrey pulled away, wanting Chloe to see the rest of her gift. "Sit down," she instructed and pulled Chloe until she was seated beside the tray of food. "I know you didn't get to eat much at dinner and that we left really quickly," she didn't want to talk about dinner. It just brought up all the unpleasant memories of hurting each other. "Just open the tray."

Chloe pursed her lips, curious as to what Aubrey could have gotten her besides eggplant parmesan from her favorite restaurant. That much she could smell but when she lifted the lid of the silver tray she found an envelope stowed behind the plate of food. She picked it up and then looked up at Aubrey in confusion.

"Open it," Aubrey said with a wide grin.

Her excitement infected Chloe, even as it confounded her. She hadn't seen Aubrey like this in a very long time. "Okay," she said, slipping her finger under the back flap of the envelope and pulled out a small stack of folded paper. "Hmm," she muttered as she turned it over in her hand and unfolded it. She read the words at the top of the page. It was a print out from an airline website. Below were printed boarding passes for a flight to Barcelona, Spain, one in each of their names.

She looked up at Aubrey in shock. "These are for this weekend," she said. Aubrey's eyebrow quirked, a sure sign she was pleased with herself and Chloe's reaction.

"Flip the page," Aubrey said, her own excitement building because Chloe hadn't gotten to the best part yet.

Her eyes fell back to the paper and she peeled back the page to look at the next one. At the top she saw Mickey Mouse ears and the Disney logo and then she read. Her body froze and she dropped the paper. For a moment the shock kept her still and then she exploded off the bed, not even remembering that her towel was not secured well. It dropped to the floor as she began jumping up and down in front of her girlfriend. She grabbed Aubrey and danced her around the room, their peals of laughter being the first positive sound shared between them all night.

Chloe kissed Aubrey, tangling her hands in the blonde waves. Aubrey's back fell against the wall and she threw out a hand to steady herself. With one last nip at her bottom lip Chloe pulled back and gazed adoringly at her girlfriend.

"So, I guess you like it, then," she said. Her hands arms enclosed Chloe's body, rubbing up and down her bare back.

"Uh, yeah," she replied, chuckling. "A Mediterranean Disney cruise? Pretty much my dream." They had talked about it for years but the dream just kind of died when they both got busy with life after graduation. Chloe was ecstatic that Aubrey had remembered something they hadn't spoken about since they were seniors in college.

Memories of their college days and the fact that Chloe was very naked and very happy was starting to make her stomach twitch. It was such a turn on to see her girlfriend back to her old self. They needed to laugh together more often and make an effort to make each other happy. She silently vowed never to let her ambition get in the way of the most important thing in her life again.

"Don't worry, I checked with your agent and made sure that you had the time available and I cleared it with the firm as well," she sighed, "Dan is going to take the two cases that I had open. He's slow but I trust him to do a decent job."

Chloe cupped Aubrey's face in her palm. This must have been very important to her if she handed over her cases to someone else. That was something Chloe never thought she would see Aubrey sacrifice. That, and the fact that she had done this so spontaneously proved her intent. It was more assurance that Aubrey was still in love with her and that she wanted their relationship to work. "I love you, Aubrey Posen and I don't tell you enough but that's going to change. I think we both need to pay more attention to how we're treating each other because I want us to go on forever." She smiled and lightly kissed Aubrey's smiling lips.

Aubrey leaned in, placing her forehead against Chloe's. "I love you too and it better go on forever because who else is going to find my glasses for me when I forget they're on my head or calm me down when we watch Law & Order and they get something wrong."

"No one," Chloe said, "Because I'm not letting them get the chance. You're mine and you're not getting away." She grinned, thinking through all the little quirks that endeared Aubrey to her. They really were perfect for one another. Each imperfection they had individually was balanced by a strong point in the other.

"So, how many people in silly costumes are you going to make me take pictures with," Aubrey asked good naturedly

"Oh, all of them babe, all of them" Chloe winked and started to pull at them hem of Aubrey's shirt.

"Don't you want to eat your food before it gets cold," Aubre asked, always the practical one.

Chloe raised an eyebrow as she tugged the shirt up and over Aubrey's head. "It will be just as good when I warm it up later after having my way with you."

All Aubrey could do was chuckle and give in to the impossibly strong pull of Chloe's allure. "You're incorrigible."

"You love it," Chloe said, before she muffled Aubrey's response with her lips.


End file.
